Marilyn

My introduction to sewing began in Home Ec class in 7th grade, but my love of quilting blossomed in the 1990s.  This passion ultimately led me to long-arm quilting, and I now work proudly with my business partner Marilyn -- my APQS Millie30 long-arm machine.  I upgraded her brain with an Intelliquilter digitized system, which allows us to stitch out patterns that could not be executed manually.  My perfectionist tendencies appreciate the precision of digitized patterns.

Irene was my original longarm, but after 10+ years of dedicated service she is now enjoying life in another quilter’s home who does not have a longarm business. So she’s probably finally getting some rest. And she’s in quite a prestigious location - standing on carpet in a living room. Nice retirement, Irene!

Marilyn is named after one of the women who encouraged and supported me as I began my longarm business. Having friends rooting for you is invaluable when you’re starting out on a new, scary venture, and lack confidence. Actually I was blessed to have several women fit this category of supportive cheerleaders of my fledgling business, and I continue to make many new quilty friends along the way. I’m SO grateful to all of you, and to be able to do this work at the end of my working career!

Just like my first longarm machine “Irene,” “Marilyn” was manufactured in Iowa. It’s important to me to support companies in the United States. My husband (& technical fix it guy) travelled to Iowa to take a 3-day class on machine maintenance. He knows these Millennium machines inside and out.